Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3032 10-12 April 2014
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
Julian II 'The Philosopher' (AD 360-363). AV solidus (22mm, 4.46 gm, 12h). Constantinople, AD 361. FL CL IVLIA-NVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Julian right, with slight beard, head in profile, bust seen from front / VIRTVS EXERCI-TVS ROMANORVM, Roman soldier, helmeted and in full armor, advancing right, head left, holding trophy iover left shoulder and with right hand grasping the hair of a small captive crouching right, hands bound behind back, CONS in exergue. RIC 156 (R3). Cohen 78 variant (different mintmark). Depeyrot 7/1. NGC (photo-certificate) Choice AU★ 5/5 - 4/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Dreesman Collection (Spink London, 13 April 2000), lot 213; Baldwin's (London, 4 May 1995), lot 78.An extremely rare variety showing Julian with a very slight stubble, in sharp contrast to the luxuriant beard he sports on most of his Constantinople coin portraits. As such is must have been struck shortly after the death of Constantius II on November 3, AD 361 and his arrival in Constantinople on December 11 of that year. Julian's "philosopher's beard" can be taken as a deliberate break with his clean-shaven, Christian predecessors and a throwback to stoic emperors of the Antonine age. It became the subject of much derision among the wags of Antioch and Julian, with mixed success, attempted to satirically rebut them with a pamphlet in Greek, Misopogon ("Beard Hater") that survives to this day.
Estimate: 5000-6000 USD
Julian II 'The Philosopher' (AD 360-363). AV solidus (22mm, 4.46 gm, 12h). Constantinople, AD 361. FL CL IVLIA-NVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Julian right, with slight beard, head in profile, bust seen from front / VIRTVS EXERCI-TVS ROMANORVM, Roman soldier, helmeted and in full armor, advancing right, head left, holding trophy iover left shoulder and with right hand grasping the hair of a small captive crouching right, hands bound behind back, CONS in exergue. RIC 156 (R3). Cohen 78 variant (different mintmark). Depeyrot 7/1. NGC (photo-certificate) Choice AU★ 5/5 - 4/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Dreesman Collection (Spink London, 13 April 2000), lot 213; Baldwin's (London, 4 May 1995), lot 78.An extremely rare variety showing Julian with a very slight stubble, in sharp contrast to the luxuriant beard he sports on most of his Constantinople coin portraits. As such is must have been struck shortly after the death of Constantius II on November 3, AD 361 and his arrival in Constantinople on December 11 of that year. Julian's "philosopher's beard" can be taken as a deliberate break with his clean-shaven, Christian predecessors and a throwback to stoic emperors of the Antonine age. It became the subject of much derision among the wags of Antioch and Julian, with mixed success, attempted to satirically rebut them with a pamphlet in Greek, Misopogon ("Beard Hater") that survives to this day.
Estimate: 5000-6000 USD